eldest son of Ming dynasty

Chapter 828 The prince is on errands

Because Zai Yan was the middle child, she was taught the concept of ‘don’t think too much’ since she was a child, and the older she got, the less she had any unnecessary thoughts. In addition, he has a relatively calm temperament by nature, and usually does not say a word, so he can better understand the principle of "not arguing".

And unlike Zai Yao, he has a closer relationship with Zai Yao and has fewer unintended thoughts.

Needless to say, Zaihe is the eldest son of the emperor. Even if he doesn't have any ideas, there will be a large group of ministers to listen to him.

"My son, I see my father. May my father pay his respects to you!"

"Good morning." Zhu Houzhao was reading the memorial and turned to glance at him, "Come here and talk."

"Yes."

"You Zhi, bring that snack and give it to the second child."

"Thank you, Father."

Zhu Houzhao still prefers the way he got along with them when he was a child. Although he has grown up now, he still tries his best to maintain it. Just give the kids something to play with and eat.

In fact, the relationship between father and son is very good, but he pays attention to state affairs, so when talking about serious matters, the children dare not be perfunctory.

Zhu Houzhao put down the memorial, crossed his arms on his chest, and said to Zai Yan: "Second brother, I didn't ask you in detail last time. How do you feel about your trip to the northwest to deliver grain and grass?"

Zai Yan wanted to put down the snack in his hand, but the emperor gave him a signal to continue eating, so he chewed a few mouthfuls, "My father, a kind king, has worked hard for decades to change the unpaid corvee into a paid corvee. This is actually It is also one of the connotations of frivolous corvee and low tax. This is naturally a great good governance, but I think there is a hidden danger."

"Oh?" Zhu Houzhao became interested, "Then you can tell me about it."

"I feel that this will greatly increase the cost of the imperial court's troops and is not conducive to the gathering of large armies. If the enemy attacks with 200,000 troops and horses, and only fights one battle, the national treasury will be unable to make ends meet. From luxury to frugality, It is difficult to move from frugality to luxury. If it has always been unpaid corvee, it will be expropriated. Now it is paid corvee. When it is really needed, or the court still maintains paid corvee, the national power will be seriously depleted. If it is changed to unpaid corvee, it will be easier. It makes the people resentful."

Although it sounds a bit cruel, it still makes sense.

In fact, this was later related to the fact that the Qing Dynasty sent only 20,000 to 30,000 troops.

Unlike the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, when half a million troops could be mobilized at once, although there were civilians among them, the scale of the soldiers was definitely larger than that of the Qing Dynasty.

"Yes, you still have some insights. However, there are no perfect strategies or systems in this world. Some just change with the times and the situation. Under my rule, the court has so much financial resources, so naturally It is necessary to benefit the people and keep wealth among the people. For thousands of years, there have been as many heroes as there are stars in the sky, but how many prosperous times are there? It is enough for me to allow the people to live a good life for decades. As for the heirs to come. Jun, no matter what I do, he will still have his problems. As for whether he has any solution, I will be sleeping underground at that time, so naturally I can't control it."

Zai Yan quickly said: "My father is at his peak in the Spring and Autumn Period and has lived forever. My son and I still want to serve my father for tens of thousands of years."

"No, the previous generation always refused to give way, and there would be problems."

Zai Yan was heartbroken when he heard this. Would his father have such thoughts?

"Okay, let's not mention this. I have summoned you to the palace this time because I have something important to entrust to you." Zhu Houzhao turned around and took out a memorial from the imperial case, "Yesterday, Yao Yulin, the governor of Sichuan, forwarded a memorial He received a memorial from Miao Zishu, the prefect of Chengdu, saying that Xia Yan, the head of Shuangliu County in Chengdu Prefecture, was an unscrupulous official and was a slave to the common people, and that the head of Tian's Yamen had money to get in but no money to leave, which aroused public resentment, so he was punished according to law. Take it and hand it over to the judge for prosecution."

Since Tian Chang was appointed by the emperor himself, when officials wanted to touch these people, they usually had to give the emperor an explanation. Otherwise, removing an eighth-grade official would not cause trouble in the central government.

Zai Yan took the memorial and looked down from the top, "This...Father, what's the problem?"

"It's fine if you look at it alone, but this statement is completely different from what the people in the palace and I reported."

"What? Someone dares to deceive you?"

"Originally, I just sent an internal official to verify this matter, but after all, the Sichuan governor is Zhang Cong's man. With the people below relying on him, you know how courageous they are."

Zai Yan understood that the emperor was hinting at the official silver smuggling case.

"So I have to send you, the prince, to take action, but your eldest brother is not suitable either. He just impeached Zhang Cong, and now asking him to investigate his people will inevitably miss the facts and exaggerate. You have always been steady in your words, so I’ll leave this job to you, are you confident that you can do it?”

This matter is not complicated, it is very clear once explained.

However, Zai Yan bit his lip and knelt down with a somewhat embarrassed expression, "My father told me that I should be able to go through mountains of swords and seas of fire. However, I dare not accept this matter."

Zhu Houzhao tapped the table with his index finger, "Why don't you dare to answer it?"

"Father has also said that my eldest brother has just impeached Zhang Cong and Zhang Shoufu. If eldest brother orders me to take the opportunity to expand the situation and expand the situation, if I don't listen, I will be disrespecting my brothers. But if I listen, I will be disrespecting my father." Disloyalty, such a dilemma, I really don’t know how to choose, so I dare not accept it. I sincerely ask my father to choose someone wiser!"

Zhu Houzhao couldn't figure out whether his words were true or false.

If it is sincere, then it is good, which means that he is not completely influenced by his eldest brother, and he puts his father first.

If it's fake... that's not bad, it means that this kid knows how to be thick and black.

"You don't have to worry too much about this. Things in Sichuan are unclear, and I just want to find out. If Zaihe really has any requirements for you...if it's related to Zhang Cong, you can just tell him. It's not related to Zhang Cong. Yes, you should advise him when the time comes. How could this be unjust? Anyway, remember, I want the truth."

Seeing that he couldn't shirk it, Zai Yan had no choice but to agree, "My son, I will obey my father's will!"

"Also, this matter involves the field chief system. In the 20th year of Zhengde, all places must submit this year's fish scale atlas. Since you have gone to Sichuan, you should carefully check the other prefectures, prefectures, and counties, and then make a detailed report. Come and report.                                                                                                                                                                                                So when it is your time to make a decision, you must not look forward or backward. Remember, you are my son, the prince of the Ming Dynasty. You must first pay attention to yourself Secondly, you must understand that what you are protecting is the country and the people of the Ming Dynasty. As long as you grasp these two points correctly, even if you kill the governor of Sichuan, I will make the decision for you!"

Zai Yan banged his head and said, "I will definitely not disappoint my father!"

"Is there anything else?"

"My son is traveling far away this time, so I want to go to the palace to visit my mother and grandma before leaving."

"That's right."

"Yes, I will retire there."

Zai Yan stood up, took two steps back, then turned around and walked out of the palace.

Zhu Houzhao looked at the back of his second son slightly absent-mindedly. Zai Yan spoke very little, so even his father often couldn't understand what the child was thinking.

Now that they are running errands, they can probably only look at these specific things.

What happened in Sichuan is actually a bit annoying.

Because it happened to be Xia Yan, he knew what kind of temper this person had, so he could immediately see the problems. However, there were more officials he didn't know, so he could imagine how many problems there would be.

His information can only come from these memorials, but if the people who submitted the memorials start to lie to him, what will happen in the long run?

This is different from official silver smuggling. He will definitely press Zhang Cong to recover the smuggled money, and he will also catch one or two more people.

More importantly, he had expected that these people were greedy for money, but Sichuan officials of all sizes united to lie to him, which he had not expected at all.

The more Zhu Houzhao thought about it, the angrier he became. He really wanted to find out what was going on. He had to kill the chicken to scare the monkey!

"He Tingren, Guan Yanqing, Xu Jie, you three come here!"

These are the three people in the attendant's room.

He Tingren was born in the 19th year of Chenghua and is already forty-three years old this year.

This person has no family background, but he was a second-class Jinshi in the twelfth year of Zhengde, and was later released as an official for three years.

In the fifteenth year of Zhengde's reign, Zhu Houzhao complained in his correspondence with Wang Shouren that "God has not given me great talents in the Ming Dynasty recently." In fact, it was just nonsense. The purpose was to ask him to find someone in Jiangnan who he could recommend and use.

Then Wang Shouren recommended his disciple He Tingren without avoiding relatives.

Zhu Houzhao felt that father and son like Wang Hua and Wang Shouren paid more attention to their reputations. It is easy to recommend talents without avoiding relatives, but if you recommend them improperly, others will not think that you do not avoid relatives. .

Therefore, Zhu Houzhao naturally felt that it was not easy for Wang Shouren to recommend this person to him under pressure.

So with a transfer order, he went directly to the attendant's room.

As for Guan Yanqing, he was a county magistrate he found during his first tour to the south. This magistrate was the deviant person who said that he valued Confucianism over strange skills.

Later, he was transferred to be the prefect of Hangzhou. Hey, don't tell me, he has no rules in his mind and respects science and objective facts. He really did a good job in Hangzhou, so he was later promoted to train around him.

Zhu Houzhao has greater expectations for this person, because he also has an advantage that He Tingren does not have, which is youth. In the 20th year of Zhengde's reign, he had just turned thirty.

As for Xu Jie, there is no need to say more.

He became a Jinshi in the 18th year of Zhengde. He is a figure whose name has been recorded in history. His intelligence and ability are definitely the best choice, not to mention that he has been fighting with Yan Song for decades.

Although there are some flaws, he still uses it even with people like Wang Qiong, so naturally he is not afraid of him.

"The ministers (He Tingren, Guan Yanqing, Xu Jie) see your Majesty."

Zhu Houzhao waved his hand, "You are all Jinshis with outstanding memory. I have assigned you an errand. Recently, the fish scale albums from various places have to be handed in. You three will divide the work and randomly select a part from each province to compare. Compare their previous data, the taxes they paid each year, and the memorials reported by the officials there. See if there are any contradictions between them!"

Since the governor of Sichuan dared to lie to him, he certainly didn't believe that the Ming Dynasty had truly Hai Qingheyan.

"If there is, report it truthfully!"

The Emperor usually talks kindly, but when he really wants to be cruel, it will definitely be different.

The three of them knew that this matter needed to be treated with caution.

Little did they know, a storm was already brewing in Sichuan.